Le Coeur de la Mer
by StarrFlower
Summary: Lyris Baxter is the new edition to Camp Half-Blood. How will she deal with her newfound powers and her newfound friends?


**A/N: Hi everybody! This is sort of a shot in the dark so please tell me what you think and if you'd like to see more. Ok, on with the story!**

Prologue

Surprise!

With shaky breath, I stepped forward, inch-by-inch.

"C'mon, Lyris," Declan said impatiently, beckoning me forward and stomping his hooves nervously. I'd only found out my good friend Declan was a satyr a few days ago when he'd informed me I was a demigod after a huge monster had tried to eat me whole, and the hooves were still sort of freaking me out.

"Sorry, Declan, I'm just…a little nervous," I squeaked, hanging back momentarily.

"Don't worry about it, you'll fit in great," he said, shooting me a warm smile. His confidence gave me reassurance and I stepped with him over the top of the hill, past the giant dragon wrapped around a pine tree.

The scene that spread out before me literally took my breath away. It was a large valley backed against Long Island Sound; strawberry fields stretched out in the distance; there was a large blue house with a wide front porch; a ring of cabins peeked out from between the trees; there was a bonfire going that seemed to be where all the people were.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," Declan said. He led my down the hill through the warm night air.

We headed straight for the bonfire where songs were floating into the night. As we got closer, I saw stares being directed my way. I suddenly became very self-conscious of my bedraggled appearance. Monsters had just chased us all the way from Denver. Well, at least my hair was clean…

I stepped into the firelight and everything fell silent. My heart fell into my stomach and I couldn't find my voice.

"Well," a booming voice said, "this must be our new camper!" Finding the owner of the voice, I saw a middle-aged man wearing an orange t-shirt; what surprised me most were his horse hindquarters. A centaur…this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. He galloped over to me. "What is your name, young lady?" he asked me kindly, obviously sensing my discomfort.

"Uh, Lyris. Lyris Baxter," I said quietly.

"Well, welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Lyris," he said. "Come, take a seat by the fire." Every pair of eyes was watching me as I made my way to an open seat on a log bench. I may have only been twelve years old, but I could tell there was some curiosity about me from the other campers.

Eventually, the songs started back up again, and the stares diminished to only three or four people. One boy in particular was insistent on staring at me. He had dark hair and shining green eyes. He had his arm around a blonde girl sitting next to him, but he obviously found something fascinating about me.

Finally, people started to trickle away and the songs became less frequent. The centaur came and stood behind me. When there were only a few people left by the fire, a couple of boys came and sat next to me. Once I took a good look at them, I realized they were twins.

"Hi, I'm Connor," one said.

"And I'm Travis Stoll," the other chimed in.

"Hi," I mumbled shyly.

"We're the head counselors for the Hermes cabin," Connor said.

"You'll be staying with us until your mom or dad claims you," Travis finished. I only nodded in reply. I hate it, but I'm actually really shy around people I don't know.

"I think it's time we all retired for the evening," the centaur finally said. We all got up to leave and the twins suddenly ran off, racing each other to the Hermes cabin. Great, now what?

I heard the centaur laughing lightly as he trotted up to my side. "I suppose you'll want me to show you to the Hermes cabin," he said.

"Yeah," I replied shyly. I could tell he was trying to be nice, and he had good intentions, but I couldn't seem to find my voice.

"I am Chiron," he said, keeping pace with my slow stride, "the camp director. I think you are going to enjoy yourself here at camp."

"What did Travis mean about my dad claiming me?" I asked in confusion, suddenly finding my strength. This whole situation was starting to become overwhelming.

"Well, I'm sure Declan has informed you that you are a demigod: half human, half god. You wouldn't be here otherwise," he said, his long tail swishing back and forth. "You have a mortal mother, yes?" I nodded slowly. "Then your father is a god. Eventually, during your time here at camp, he will send a sign letting everyone know that you are his daughter."

"Do _you _know who is?" I asked, staring up into his wise, old eyes.

Chiron hesitated before answering. "I have my ideas, of course, but I can't say anything," he said. I was a little disappointed, but I had expected as much.

"How long will it take for him to claim me?" I asked.

"It depends on the god," he explained. "The time frame could be anywhere from five days to five years." Again, my heart dropped into my stomach.

"Oh," was all I said to that. By that time, we had reached the cabins. Each one was different, designed to reflect the godly parent of the campers that it housed. They formed a huge rectangle, with a fire pit situated right in the middle. Some cabins were easy to guess the gods and goddesses they were dedicated to, but others I had no idea about.

"Tomorrow," Chiron said, "I will take you on a tour of the camp, and answer all of your questions." I gave him a thankful smile. Suddenly, a dark shadow passed behind a tree to my right. I wasn't quite sure what I'd just seen, but I _was _sure that there were evil forces as well as good at Camp Half-Blood.

The Hermes cabin was a hub of chaos in the morning. There were so many unclaimed campers shoved in there that there was bound to be disorder. I high-tailed it out of there as fast as I could. Chiron was outside, waiting for me.

"Good morning," he called cheerily. Today, he was wearing a bronze breastplate over his orange camp T-shirt, and a bow and quiver full of arrows slung on his back.

"Morning," I called back, stopping next to him.

"Well, where shall we start?" he asked.

"How 'bout the cabins," I replied. "Who do they all belong to?" Chiron started out with the cabins nearest to the trees.

"These all belong to the minor gods and goddesses. That one's Hecate's, Hebe's, Nemesis', Morpheus', Janus', Iris', Hypnos', and Eris'. Then these are the Olympian gods goddesses'. That, of course, is Hermes', there's Apollo's, Ares', Hephaestus', Aphrodite's, Athena's, Dionysus', Demeter's, and there's Artemis'." He pointed to a cabin that I'd seen glowing silver last night.

"What about those four?" I asked. We had come to the other end of the rectangle.

"Ah," Chiron said. "These belong to the children of the Big Three."

"The Big Three?" I asked confusedly.

"That's what we call the three brothers Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. The Zeus cabin is currently uninhabited." Chiron walked us past the whitewashed stone cabin. "The one next to it belongs to Hera, Zeus' wife. It's really just a courtesy though. She is the goddess of marriage and therefore doesn't have any demigod children. This is the Poseidon cabin. It only has one resident." The Poseidon cabin was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It gleamed in the light of the morning sun, showing off the seashells embedded into the sandstone.

"It's gorgeous," I breathed. I looked over at Chiron and saw a gleam in his eyes. I was about to ask him about it when someone emerged from the Poseidon cabin.

"Ah!" Chiron exclaimed a little _too_ enthusiastically. "Good morning, Percy!" I fell silent as the boy who'd kept staring at me at the campfire the night before walked over to greet Chiron.

"Morning," he responded, adjusting the straps on his Greek battle armor.

"Percy, I'd like you to meet Lyris Baxter," Chiron said, nudging me forward. "Lyris, this is Percy Jackson." His eyes were searching and seemed to cut right through me. It was obvious by the look of him that he'd been through a lot in his life. But what, I couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Headed off to teach swordplay?" Chiron asked.

"Yeah, Annabeth is going to help me teach the new campers about blocking," he said.

"Very good," Chiron replied. A few more moments of awkward silence passed by.

"Well, I better get going," Percy said. "I'll see ya around, Lyris." He nodded at me, still looking like he was trying to find out every little thing about me. Chiron coughed awkwardly and then continued on with the tour.

"Well, this is the last cabin," he said, gesturing to the cabin next to Poseidon's. "This is the Hades cabin. It too, only has one occupant." The Hades cabin was dark and foreboding. It was completely black, with a menacing skull hanging above the door and torches of green fire. The steps and columns were made of various human bones.

After about a minute of staring into the empty sockets of the skull, my gaze drifted to the porch. That was when I noticed him. He was tall, with shaggy black hair and chiseled features. He wore a leather aviator's jacket and was sharpening a three-foot long, jet-black sword. For the longest time, I just stared. I couldn't help it: I was transfixed by this son of Hades.

And then…he looked up. When our eyes met a chill seized my bones and my heart turned to ice. His eyes were as dark as the night, and just as mysterious.

"Good morning, Nico," Chiron said. His voice had lost all of its cheeriness, but it wasn't hard to understand why: this guy radiated death, doom, and gloom. This Nico guy didn't even glance at Chiron; his eyes were locked on mine, and I couldn't tear myself away.

He stepped off the porch of the Hades cabin and walked towards us, still staring, his sword gleaming menacingly in the sunlight.

"Lyris," Chiron said, "may I introduce Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. Nico, this is Lyris Baxter."

"Pleased to meet you," I said quietly, inclining my head politely.

"On the contrary," he replied, his deep voice giving me shivers, "the pleasure is all mine."

Chiron coughed discreetly into his hand. "Where are you headed off to today?" Chiron asked him. Finally, Nico looked away from me.

"I thought I'd try my hand at the archery station today," he replied, sheathing his sword.

"Well, we wish you luck. Perhaps we will see you later on our tour," Chiron said, placing a protective hand on my shoulder.

"Until then," Nico replied, shifting his gaze back to me. There was something unnerving about his dark stare, but also something immensely entrancing.

As he walked away I felt the chill gradually lessening throughout my body. Well, this has been an interesting start to camp.

I was better at archery than I thought I'd be. It was only my third day of camp and already I'd received top marks in archery. The Apollo campers who ran the station all loved me and were sure Apollo would claim me any day now. I wasn't quite as sure as them. I did, however, enjoy singing songs with them at the nightly bonfire. Who knows? Maybe I will be joining the Apollo cabin soon…

I was loving camp except for two things: (1) I still didn't know who my father was and (2) Nico di Angelo…well, I'm not entirely sure. There was something about him that I found extremely fascinating, but I was too much of a chicken to go up and talk to him. But at the same time, the guy scared the crap out of me. Every time he looked at me, I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide forever. That, however, I could not do.

Perseus Jackson was becoming somewhat of a nuisance as well. He stared at me a lot too, but it was a different type of stare. He always looked like he wanted to probe my brain, and it was starting to annoy.

During my second week of camp, I made my first friend. I was sitting on the beach, my knees pulled up to my chest, watching the sunset when a wooden object went sailing past my head and straight into the water. Glancing behind me, I saw a bunch of Ares campers laughing their heads off and a boy with golden hair running towards the water. In that moment I knew exactly what I had to do.

Fully clothed, I jumped into the water. I'd always been a good swimmer so it wasn't hard to retrieve the object. When I resurfaced, I had the wooden thing in my hands. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a small harp. The boy with the golden hair was standing on the beach, watching me. I crawled onto the sand and handed him the harp. He was obviously an Apollo camper.

"Here ya go," I said shyly.

"Thanks," he replied. "The Ares cabin is just a bunch of bullies."

"Why'd they throw your harp into the water?" I asked, watching the Ares campers walking away, still laughing.

"Who knows? Maybe they think I play too much. Maybe they're just jerks," he said, drying the harp off with his shirt.

"I'm thinking it's the latter," I said, chuckling lightly. That got him laughing him a bit. "Well, I think your harp will be okay."

"Oh, I know it will," he said, plucking the strings lightly. They emitted the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. "It's a magical lyre, so it's indestructible. My father gave it to me," he said, smiling up at me. He stood up a little straighter and I realized he was only a couple inches taller than me. He could only be about a year older than I was. "What's your name? I don't think I've seen you before."

"I'm Lyris Baxter," I said, offering my hand. He shook it earnestly.

"Nice to meet you, Lyris. I'm Aiden Parish, Apollo Camper," he said. His smile was so genuine that I tried to ignore the sting of his words.

"Still unclaimed," I said sadly.

"Oh," he replied, his mood instantly changed, "sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay," I lied.

"Well, how old are you?" he asked. I thought it was kind of a random question but I decided to appease him.

"I'm twelve," I answered.

"Well, your godly parent has to claim you by the time you're thirteen, so you don't have too much longer to wait," he said. "Thank gods Percy Jackson made that deal with the gods when he saved the world."

"Saved the world?" I asked confusedly, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you haven't heard the story?" I shook my head. "Well, he defeated the Titan lord Kronos and he's totally invincible. He bathed in the River Styx you know," he said enthusiastically. Well, that explains a little about him.

"Hmmm," I mused to myself, "interesting."

"He's a true hero," Aiden continued. "Zeus offered him immortality, but he turned him down. He coulda been a god, but he said no! Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, actually I can," I said, more to myself than to him.

"He turned down Zeus, but he did make a deal with them." Aiden just kept on going like a runaway train. "He made all the gods promise that they would claim their demigod children by the time they are thirteen, and that the minor gods' children would all have a place at Camp Half-Blood, as well as Hades' children."

"You mean the children of Hades used to not be welcome at camp?" I asked, a spark of intrigue igniting somewhere deep inside me.

"Yeah. Since Hades isn't welcome on Olympus—ya know the whole 'Lord of the Underworld' thing doesn't sit too well with some of the Olympian gods—his children weren't welcome here. Up until two years ago, Hades didn't even have a cabin," Aiden said. He seemed to be enjoying himself telling me all of this information. "But during the war with the Titans, Nico di Angelo changed all that."

"How?" I said probably a little too demandingly.

"He convinced Hades to leave the Underworld and use his armies to help win the war," he said enthusiastically. "If it weren't for Nico and the armies of the dead, Camp Half-Blood probably wouldn't be here right now. He saved a lot of people."

I stood there in silence for a moment, just thinking to myself. "Well, I think it's getting close to dinner time. We should probably go," Aiden said. We walked together to dinner. And thus began the start of glorious friendship.

I scooted through the line and finally scraped a portion of my food into the fire as an offering to the gods.

_Please, _I prayed silently, _claim me Dad. _Little did I know that would be my last night at the Hermes table.

I decided to go back to the Hermes cabin early that night; I was unusually tired. Aiden was sad to see me go, but I promised we would hang out more tomorrow.

As I stood up to go, a strong breeze suddenly ripped through the camp. Some people were unsettled, but most, myself included, ignored it. I began to leave when everything suddenly grew silent. I looked all around me and saw everyone pointing and staring. Looking back across the campfire, I saw Percy Jackson standing, a shocked look on his face pointed in my direction.

"What?" I managed to squeak out. Chiron slowly pointed above my head.

"Look, Lyris," he said. I followed his gaze and a pit opened up in my stomach. Floating above my head was a glowing, green trident: the mark of Poseidon. My dad had finally claimed me…

Surprise…


End file.
